Marco Rubio, Mormon-Turned-Catholic

The young Tea Party senator, who some have speculated could be on Mitt Romney’s short list of potential running mates, was baptized into the Mormon church when he was 8 and “remained active in the faith for a number of years,” attending LDS youth groups and walking to church most Sundays because his mother didn’t drive, BuzzFeed reports.

Rubio left Mormonism to become a Catholic “a few years later,” and had his first Communion when he was 13, in 1984, the Florida senator’s spokesman told the website.

Romney’s faith has occasionally been a topic of discussion in the Republican primary. Many Americans are unfamiliar with Mormonism, a Christian religion that has been called a cult by a pastor who endorsed Rick Perry and even by Romney’s chief rival, Rick Santorum.

The revelation muddies the prospects of Rubio’s getting the vice presidential nod from Romney. Though many conservatives love Rubio — he overwhelmingly won a straw poll for vice presidential nominee at an annual gathering of conservatives in Washington this month — the bottom of the ticket is often used for balancing a variety of attributes.

BuzzFeed says that its questions to Rubio’s aides about his religion “appear to have sent them into frantic damage-control mode.” The Miami Heraldpublished a blog mentioning Rubio’s Mormon roots just before Rubio’s spokesman called the website to confirm the story. The spokesman said Rubio plans to write about his Mormon faith in a book.